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Minor changes to major branding

There’s no denying that re-branding is an exercise that requires careful consideration. Rather than create an entirely new image and lose a some ( if not all ) brand recognition, many brands elect to refine their existing identity design in order to update their look while not completely discarding any existing brand recognition and loyalty.

If a mark is really horrible it may even undergo 3, 4 or more alterations over a period of years to ease into the desired look. But there’s subtle, and then there’s subtle…

Shown here are a few original ( left ) and recent changes ( right ) to some major brands, starting with the above Ford Mustang logo. Ford have;

…lifted the head to make the pony more proud, tipped the neck into the wind to give it a feeling of greater speed and better balance. It’s more chiseled and more defined and looks more like a wild horse.

Looked a lot like a wild horse to begin with I thought…

DirecTV’s mark has change its matte finish for a glossy one for a web 2.0 look but otherwise remains unchanged.

Comcast’s latest tweak. The new t is an improvement, the changes to the s are neither here nor there, and other than that you’d need to see one image laid over the other to view the miniscule differences.

The changes to the Philips logo are much the same. The characters are extended a little here and their while the p‘s bowls are a little move voluptuous.

Brands sometimes refine existing logos by fractions to improve legibility or for better reproduction, but do you think any of these brands needed an overhaul? For the money spent rolling out the changes you would hope so.

What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know.

Obviously getting your branding right is important and I’m not suggesting close enough is good enough. The changes to the DirecTV logo are a little more obvious, but if you hadn’t seen them compared here would you have noticed the changes to the other designs at all?